Notes on the egg of the Marbled Murrelet

Vol.

XVn

_r- 1 \T 4

'

.^

,8^8 J General Notes.

49

GENERAL NOTES.

Notes on the

Egg

ofthe Marbled Murrelet.

—

While collectinif this seasonoff theAlaskancoastin the Prince of

Wales

Archipelago,it was

my

good fortune to take an &^^ ^{of the} MarbledMurrelet {Brachyrum- phiistnarmoraius), the firstIbelieve that is

known

to science.

Mv

head- quarters at that time were at the Indian village of

Howkan,

on

Long

Island, near theopen endof Dixon'sEntrance.

The

birdshad beenvery abundantallwinterandb}^

May

had taken on their rusty

summer

dress.

Femalestakenatthattimeplainly'indicated thattheywere about to nest, the ovaries containing eggs nearly formed.

A

careful w-atch failed to reveal any nesting sites and on inquiringof the Indians about it, thev told

me

thattheyhad always supposedthe bird to breed high up on the mountains in hollow trees; one old fellow declared he had found the

young

insuch places.

As

Ihadpreviously noticed thebirds flying about high overheadatduskIresolvedto look into the matter,and spent

many

hourssearchingfor

them

in thewoods, but without success.

One

day, the 23d of

May,

an Indian boy

came

to the cabin and wanted to borrow

my

^'scatter

gun

^'to shoot ducks. Igave

him

the

gun

and

some

shells, I also asked

him

tobring

me

back

some

'divers' if he could.

He

returnedin the afternoon with four Marbled Murrelets and

said,in Chinook,that "he thought one had an egg in it," and suiting the actiontotheword,squeezed the bird's

abdomen,

and before I could preventitIheard theeggbreak Taetweenhis fingers.

On

openingthe bird Ifound the remains of a large clear green ttgg spotted with black and brown,whichIpatched upthebestIcouldand sent to the Smithsonian Institution.

By

apromiseof areward foreggsI soonhadalltheIndian boysofthe place after them.

Many

of the birds they got had incomplete eggs ⁱⁿ

them

and others had already laid, but I never secured another perfect specimen.

The

birds were in the channels the entire

summer,

and on

August

₅

I noticed the first

young

in the

immature

white plumage, and by the middle of October the old birds had also

assumed

the Avinter dress.

—

Geo.

G.

Cantwell,

y««ert?<,Alaska.

[The above mentioned egg, kindly sent to the National

Museum

by Mr.Cantwell,measures about2.4Sinches (length) and 1.3S (width). In shapeitiselongate- ovate.

The

colorisagreenish yellow, w-ithbrownish violetand dark

brown

spots, the latterbeinglarger at the base.

—

•"\V. L.

Ralph

]

Gull Dick.

— The American

Herring Gull (^Larus argentatus smiik- sonianus),

known

as^'GullDick' (seeAuk,Vol. IX, p.227^; Vol.X,p. 76;

/